I have been a volunteer on one of the Iron Realms MUDs for a couple of years now, and I can say all of them are pretty active/great. A new one is coming out soon though, the first scifi one, Starmourn. If you're down for something new and interesting in the MUD space, keep an eye out for it.

I played Gemstone 3 back in the early 90's and I've visited them again recently which is now Gemstone 4. There are dozen of fantasy races as well as traditional classes you can choose to play. The monthly cost is like $15 a month, but I think they added something new recently where you can play for free for a certain amount of time, like a trial period.

It's a pretty in depth game with lots of stats and weird mechanics, but to me, that is what makes a game interesting. Just one bit of advice though, if you do decide to try it out, you will get a free travel token to go from one city to another. Use this to get to Wehneimer's Landing because that is where the bulk of players reside.

So I asked before. But I think I'll expand my question instead of a one liner

What is the difference between GemstoneIV and DragonRealms? It seems DragonRealms might be a lot more immersive, because instead of DnD style numbers of Gemstone, you get an RP description of combat. That is a lot more immersive, and never liked the DnD mechanics in games (I like DnD in real life, but not the style for me in video games. I know a lot of games take inspiration from it, and that is okay, but flat out DnD style combat isn't my thing).

The other difference, if I got it right...DragonRealms has fantasy but also some futuristic stuff to it? Or steampunk or something? So its a bit mix fantasy/sci-fi? That is really unique since most games are only sci-fi or only fantasy. I always liked the mixed style.

However, the HUGE downside I can see is DragonRealms is its heavily focused on PvP. I vastly prefer PvE in games and supposedly (as of 4 years ago, so quite some time ago) GemstoneIV is a lot more PVE focused? or are they about the same?

I like PvP and actually PvPed a lot in WoW. However when I did that was never forced to PvP. Same with GW2, even though GW2 is pvp focused, its always an option to PvP and never forced on you. And GW2 still has mountains of PVE content.

So I asked before. But I think I'll expand my question instead of a one liner

What is the difference between GemstoneIV and DragonRealms? It seems DragonRealms might be a lot more immersive, because instead of DnD style numbers of Gemstone, you get an RP description of combat. That is a lot more immersive, and never liked the DnD mechanics in games (I like DnD in real life, but not the style for me in video games. I know a lot of games take inspiration from it, and that is okay, but flat out DnD style combat isn't my thing).

The other difference, if I got it right...DragonRealms has fantasy but also some futuristic stuff to it? Or steampunk or something? So its a bit mix fantasy/sci-fi? That is really unique since most games are only sci-fi or only fantasy. I always liked the mixed style.

However, the HUGE downside I can see is DragonRealms is its heavily focused on PvP. I vastly prefer PvE in games and supposedly (as of 4 years ago, so quite some time ago) GemstoneIV is a lot more PVE focused? or are they about the same?

I like PvP and actually PvPed a lot in WoW. However when I did that was never forced to PvP. Same with GW2, even though GW2 is pvp focused, its always an option to PvP and never forced on you. And GW2 still has mountains of PVE content.

Thanks

Yeah, I'm currently looking at Aardwolf, Gemstone IV and DragonRealms. From what I can tell, the first two are more PvE-focused, and DragonRealms has a heavier PvP focus. Can anyone confirm? Thanks!

Gemstone has PvP available, but it's not something you'll probably ever see. First off, you will end up in jail and have your items take from you with a hefty fine to get it back. Continued murders will probably get your account suspended. It's definitely not about PvP, but it has "friendly fire" if you know what I mean, but only with certain AoE spells.